This invention relates to an insulating material. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to an insulated material and a method of applying the insulated material to goods and industrial products such as tubular members. In the most preferred embodiment, a flexible insulating material for underwater systems and a method of use is disclosed.
Global energy demands have provided the impetus and engineering advances to drill into underwater oil and gas reservoirs so that today a significant portion of the world's oil is supplied by offshore drilling off the coasts of the United States, Europe, Russia and Brazil. Oil and gas exploration and production in underwater environments presents challenges not encountered in onshore industry. The underwater environment exposes equipment to compressive forces, near-freezing water temperatures, water absorption, salt water corrosion, undersea currents and marine life. An insulating material to counter the effects of these harsh conditions would allow already established systems used in onshore applications to be used in underwater systems with little or no alteration to the systems. The insulating material would need to possess a unique set of characteristics not present in insulating materials currently in use.
In recent years, technology has begun to catch up with the ever growing interests in the deep water development. Newer and more economical designs in oil and gas production equipment and processes has finally opened the deep water development to many oil and gas exploration companies. However, there are still many more problems and expenses that exists at water depths of 2,000 feet (600 meters) and beyond.
Some of the most costly problems are the formation of paraffins in crude oil and hydrates in natural gas at these deep water depths. Hydrocarbons (paraffins and hydrates) that are brought from deep within the earth are very hot when they reach the sub-sea wellhead, somewhere between 150° F. to 190° F. (66°-88° C.), but rapidly cool due to seawater surrounding the steel piping system as it is flowing up to the surface. These impurities, paraffins and hydrates, remain in solution as long as the fluid stream remains hot enough to flow. When the stream starts to cool off or slow down the impurities begin to solidify and constrict then block the internal diameter of the piping system, slowing flow then eventually total blockage of the flow. To clear the constriction and the blockage, expensive restoration technology is required such as chemically unstopping the piping system. This restoration causes much unscheduled production down-time and in extreme cases total abandonment of the well site. These unscheduled restorations become a greater and more prevalent problem as companies explore deeper depths and produce longer piping systems.
Recently, oil and gas exploration companies have tried to develop many fixes to remedy the expenses associated with the formation of hydrates at deeper water depths. Again, improved designs in the oil and gas production equipment are just some of the answers to economically producing oil and gas at the greater water depths. One of the remedies of reducing the formation of paraffins and hydrates is insulating the wellhead and piping systems from the 40° F. (4° C.) seawater environment. Most of the recent attempts to insulate the wellhead and piping systems used a product known as “Syntactic Foam”, that was previously and mostly used for buoyancy applications. The syntactic foam does have good thermal insulation properties but economic success has been limited due to cost and significant application problems such as production problems in application. The syntactic foam has minimal flexibility characteristics which is a deterrent to the contraction and expansion that takes place during production and installation. Since prior art syntactic foam is so brittle, it limits the economic life requirements at these depths. In addition, great care is needed when deploying large assemblies due to the inability to flex when moving the equipment to the offshore location.
The novel compound, method application and system was developed due to the ever growing need for a flexible, insulating material that can be applied to industrial equipment and products. All types of industrial equipment that require and/or can benefit from an encapsulation of insulation material will benefit from the disclosed invention.
The invention is particularly well suited for deep water exploration activity. The product was designed with all the stringent variables of sub-sea exploration and production applications in mind. The novel compound has thermal insulation characteristics that rival prior art syntactic foam with much greater flexibility characteristics than any deep water insulation material. It is also applied with greater precision with much less labor costs. Due to its greater performance and flexibility it resists compression and water absorption better than most deep water thermal insulation systems. The novel compound will be the preferred insulation system because of its reduced labor costs, ease of field applications and less time needed for insulation of sub-sea equipment and piping projects. With the ease of application and flexibility, it is the ideal insulation material for flexible risers, bulkheads, subsea trees and flexible flowlines and jumper systems that are used in deep water applications. The novel compound, method application and system has greater potential as the offshore oil and gas industry explores and develops deeper and more demanding areas of the world's oceans.
Further, the novel compound, method and system has many other potential markets due to its enhanced characteristics. The Petrochemical and Chemical industry has many applications of insulating the outside diameter of piping systems. Many of the current products are very expensive and labor intensive to apply and repair. Also, many are not flexible and require repairs and reinstallation with the age of the product. Color can also be added to the novel product to identify the welded joints of the pipeline to ease the repair and installation process, and can easily be applied in the field. In addition, the novel product has application potentials in the boat building industry due to its thermal insulation and flexible characteristics. Insulating large refrigerated ships and barges are just one of the applications. Other applications and potentials are certainly possible and will be more readily understood by a reading of the remainder of the application.